Summary Conviction

Definition and Citations:

The conviction of a person, (usually for a minor misdemeanor,) as the result of his trial before a magistrate or court, without the intervention of a jury, which is authorized by statute in England and in many of the states. In these proceedings there is no intervention of a jury, but the party accused is acquitted or condemned by the suffrage of such person only as the statute has appointed to be his judge. A conviction reached on such a magistrate’s trial is called a “summary conviction.” Brown; Blair v. Com., 25 Grat. (Va.) 853.

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